Real-Time Strategy “Level Design” Article

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Here is some interesting reading material for you. Its an article called Real-Time Strategy “Level Design”, its actually the follow up to a previous article written by the same person. Basically both articles take a detailed look at some of the missions in the original Command & Conquer, more specially from the “Covert Operations” expansion. Here's a sample.

The second level is called Blindsided, and starts the player with just a single commando (instant-kill weapon against soldiers, C4 charges which instant-kill buildings if successfully planted). The map is divided into two halves by a river. What happens in the second half is, like the previous example, less to with level design than the first half as there are multiple possible solutions to it. The first half, however, takes a leaf out of the same book as the first level, as well as one of the levels examined in the previous entry. The side of the map you start on (the bottom) has a Nod base on each side (you play as GDI, the opposing force). The base on the right which we’ll come to shortly has an Obelisk of Light guarding it (a deadly base defense) whilst the one on the left has just a single turret with some troops. Your first move is to kill off the turret and the surrounding soldiers, and then to refer back to the mission briefing. The briefing for this states that you must destroy the SAM sites (the orange circles) – once done, a helicopter will arrive with five engineers, and then depart. Which five buildings to capture? One’s inclination may be towards the airstrip in order to bring in tanks, but what you need here is the quantity of units, not the quality. Remember that mission last time where a meat-shield of units was required to let the commando get through safely? A similar tactic is required here, but with a twist.